Homeowners

As land prices rise in Miami and Palm Beach, home buyers get more for their money in Fort Lauderdale

A few years ago, Rishi Kapoor, the CEO of Location Ventures, was looking for waterfront sites to develop condominiums in South Florida.

With land prices increasing to all-time highs in Miami and Palm Beach, he found a location where he felt that he could attract luxury buyers but at a more reasonable price point: Fort Lauderdale.

“You can still get a five-star luxury experience and all of the amenities of a world class city, but definitely at a value compared to those other two markets,” Mr. Kapoor said.

A decade ago, luxury condo development was concentrated in skyrocketing Miami to the south, while the priciest singlefamily market in the state has been to the north in Palm Beach, an enclave for the rich and famous. Now, the strength of its neighbors is having a spillover effect on Fort Lauderdale and surrounding Broward County, giving buyers in this relatively more affordable luxury market a great opportunity for longterm future upside.

Downtown Professionals Fuels City’s Momentum

Two decades ago, Fort Lauderdale was mostly a destination for retirees seeking their little slice of paradise—“God’s little waiting room,” as Craig Studnicky, a veteran South Florida agent, jokingly referred to it.

But in the early 2000s, the city began to encourage more residential growth downtown, which helped to keep the area alive past 5 p.m. As more young professionals made downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods their home, that brought restaurants, fitness studios and bars, all catered to the new residents.

“Now downtown Fort Lauderdale is bursting with young life,” said Mr. Studnicky, who is the co-founder and CEO of the International Sales Group and Related ISG, which just opened a Fort Lauderdale office in March. “Everyone is in their 20s, 30s and 40s—it’s definitely not a retiree market anymore.”

“In real estate, location is everything, and we’re that centrally connected city in the region,” Ms. Morejon said. Plus, the new Brightline high-speed rail is a huge boon for commuters, bringing them to Miami in 40 minutes and Palm Beach in 45—an advantage during high-traffic time.

Its central location, with an airport nearby, is “what’s really driving higher price points and the type of residents who want to make Fort Lauderdale their home.”

A Burgeoning Luxury Condo Market

The success of Fort Lauderdale’s rental market gave condo developers greater confidence to invest there. In recent years, the city’s skyline has been growing with waterfront residential towers that fetch record prices.

In September, a penthouse in the Four Seasons Residences sold for $15.4 million, the highest price that Fort Lauderdale had ever recorded for a condo sale.

The Four Seasons Hotel and Residences, which opened early last year, was a catalyst that gave confidence to other condo developers in the area. Other brands have since followed with their own branded residences, such as Auberge Resorts Collection and the Ritz Carlton Residences.

“Now, all of a sudden, you have those flags there,” Mr. De Ona said. “It took a little bit longer, but the market has matured at its own pace.”

Mr. Kapoor said that those flagship brands have helped to raise the city’s profile.

“When you saw the Four Seasons go into our neighborhood, there was an understanding that there was where a luxury condominium on the beach should go,” he said. His firm, Location Ventures, is currently constructing the Edition Residences, which will rise 11 stories along the Intracoastal Waterway, just a few blocks away from the Four Seasons. A unit within one of Edition’s two towers starts at $3 million.

The growing demand for luxury has led developers to add in the kind of leisure spaces more typical of Miami’s glitzy towers, such as pool terraces overlooking the ocean, inhouse spas, and private training yoga and pilates spaces.

While the amenities may be comparable to Miami, the prices are not. Beachfront condos in Fort Lauderdale sell for around $2,000 a square foot, compared to $6,000 to $7,000 a square foot in Miami, Mr. Studnicky estimates.

Across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, average condo prices increased 25% between 2021 and 2022, from $546,617 to $683,271, according to MLS data. Prime condo properties (the upper 10% of sales) saw a median sales price of $1.9 million in Fort Lauderdale, compared to $3.75 million in Miami Beach, according to a report from Douglas Elliman for the last quarter of 2022.

Price Growth in Single-Family Homes

Just like the condo market, Fort Lauderdale’s single-family home market has also seen major price growth, as buyers discover how much more mortar they can buy there compared to Miami or Palm Beach.